I was standing there on Elvis Presley Blvd, looking up at Graceland thinking about what to write about Elvis that hadn’t already been written. When the cowboy standing next to me said, I remember Elvis. I was to young to really know him as the generation of the 50′s did, but he sure did kick up a fuss when he played the Louisiana Hayride. My uncle used to talk about being there for his first appearance. My uncle said Elvis really knocked everybody out. No one had ever seen a performance like his before. He just tore the place down. The girls went crazy. Uncle Justin said it was a show he would never forget.

You know our part of the country has had a lot of stars who started on the Hayride, Hank Williams in 1949, Webb Pierce in 1951, Faron Young in 1953, Jim Reeves, Johnny Horton, Bob Luman, Dale Hawkins, James Burton, and many others got their start on the Hayride. The funny part about it is they all became famous. Mickey Gilley started his career with Paula Records in Shreveport. So, the Hayride in my mind was as big as the Grand Ole Opry. It seems like it was only yesterday, me and the cowboy talked for awhile about early Rock-a-billy music. I asked him if he would like to ride over to Sun Records. No he said, that’s also a thing of the past their all gone now. Elvis, Carl Perkins, and everyone who recorded there has long left the building. It’s just an empty studio now trying to relive those exciting days when Rock-a-billy music was being recorded there everyday. No, I am heading on back to Shreveport I’ve got a delivery there in the morning. David Akinson a professional truck driver reminiscing of those great musical days of the 50′s, which will never pass our way again. Like all of us as we move into the 21st century, he to keeps looking down the road to a time when Rock-a-billy was young, times were simple, and there was truly a whole lot of shaking goin on.